Biltong and feta cheese muffins

Summer means different things to different people. To some, it means the beach and the smell of coconut suntan lotion. To others, it means ripe, sun-warmed tomatoes from their garden; or Wimbledon; or partying the nights away in Ibiza’s nightclubs till dawn; or backyard braais/barbecues; or cricket season; or asparagus season; or berry-picking; or picnics. And yes, I can honestly that summer means a little bit of all these things to me. But these days, more than anything else, to me and Nick summer means one thing above all others: a house full of visitors.

I think any South Africans living in London will have experienced this. For 9 months of the year, our friends and family back home giggle and gloat in phone calls, e-mails and on Facebook. They post pictures of themselves in strappy tops and shorts. They taunt us with braais and beaches and ice cold Castle lagers, asking things like “so do you miss the weather over there? What’s the temperature where you are right now?”, knowing full well is is about a quarter to Absolute Zero – and that’s in the lounge! But for a few short weeks every year, all my South African friends and relatives realise that England actually has a fighting chance of being warmer in mid-summer than South Africa will be in mid-winter (by no means a done deal, I assure you). And like lemmings with wanderlust they all fling themselves onto the nearest passenger jet and endure 12 hours of crying babies, cramped seating and crap airline food to arrive on my doorstep for a few nights in the Penthouse Suite at CookSister HQ.

How else could you explain the fact that FOUR sets of my friends have been in Europe over the same four week period this year?? To be fair, only two of these sets actually arrived at CookSister HQ, but their mere presence in this hemisphere caused a flurry of travel on my part. I mean, if you know your nearest and dearest are only across the Channel in Paris or Rome, how can you resist the urge to pop over and go to visit them?? So let’s see… starting in mid-June: I met up with my brother Anton, sis-in-law Paola and my two super-cool nephews in Paris for a weekend. The following weekend I flew to Rome to spend two days with Belinda, one of our close friends from back home, and her friend Mandy. While I was there, by best friend since childhood Andréa and hubby John arrived in London and were waiting for me, already installed in the penthouse suite, when I got back from Rome. And three days after they left, our old friends Phil and Nan arrived from Joburg to spend this past weekend with us. We might as well install a revolving door and employ a concierge! (Despite sounding like a big old grump, I would not have it any other way though. The time I get to spend with friends on these annual visits is precious and having visitors always makes you experience your own city through fresh eyes.)

Another welcome recent visitor in my home (and one that will not be allowed to leave!) was a packet of rather good springbok biltong from the justifiably famous Butcher Shop and Grill in Sandton, Johannesburg. For those of you who don’t yet know, biltong is a South African delicacy consisting of spiced, air-dried meat (usually beef, but often also ostrich and game). The name is an Afrikaans word which comes from bil, (from Middle Dutch bille) meaning buttock/rump + tong, (from Middle Dutch tonghe) meaning tongue. The name is descriptive – biltong literally means strips (or tongues) of meat from the animal’s rump which are spiced, cured and air-dried (see my post about biltong for more details). This particular packet of biltong was sent to me by Cox & Kings, a company specialising in tailor-made holidays to various worldwide destinations, including South Africa. They challenged me to come up with a recipe showcasing this typical South African ingredient and these muffins are the result of the challenge. The recipe is dead easy and the result is truly delicious (although my husband was horrified at the idea of doing anything with the biltong other than eating it straight from the packet!). These muffins would be perfect for a summer picnic or heaten hot, straight from the oven, with lots of butter. And you can throw them together in a matter of minutes for unexpected houseguests 🙂

Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk together the eggs, oil and milk in a separate bowl or jug and pour into the dry ingredients, together with the lemon juice. Mix lightly, just until all ingredients are moist (the batter will be quite wet). Spoon into greased muffin tins or silicone muffin cups and bake at 220° C for 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the baking tin.

If you’re looking for more things to make with biltong, why not try my:

Gorgeous gorgeous muffins. I tried the biltong in Weimar and can still taste it. Delicious! I think that a short stay at the Cooksister HQ Penthouse is something I will covet……..even on the darkest dreariest night in winter. Love your photos. Very very summery.

I love being a tourist in my own town. This weekend I will actually be on a boat ride to see the sites on Lake Okanagan. England is a beautiful country so I can see why your friends and family would gravitate towards it..all the delicious food at Cafe Cooksister is just a bonus.

Lovely to have a stream of old friends to visit! We came to England in July three years ago and it rained almost constantly – our kids could not believe this was summer! But it is jolly chilly here right now, so I’d be tempted to swap hemispheres for a spell too. I’ve still never acquired a taste for biltong, except as an emergency ration, so I’m obviously not a true South African yet. My kids of course all love it!

Smiling, because as an African, I know exactly what summer means! When we moved to the Netherlands, we made sure we got a house with extra rooms…..for the summer guest. I like the idea of biltong muffins. Have fun

What a lovely time you must’ve had with all your visitors – I always feel rejuvenated after such visits from long lost family or friends. These muffins look fab, but I must say I tend to agree with your hubby – you just can’t beat biltong eaten straight out of the packet.

I could never develop the taste for biltong or beef jerkies enough to say that I am a huge fan. However it does seem that this would make me want to give it another go. These muffins look brilliant. Perfect summertime snacks!

I’ve never really got to grips with biltong, but this seems like the perfect introduction – I like the idea of baking it into a muffin, and also the combination of wholewheat and plain flours. My standard savoury muffin is pea, bacon and feta so might have to give this variation a try!

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Jeanne Horak-Druiff is a freelance food and travel writer as well as a recipe developer and photographer. She is a South African by birth and a Londoner by choice who has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Please get in touch to commission work from her. Read More…